COLUMN - Political view with Edward Argar MP

When the 'temporary pause' to births at St Mary's was announced by the local NHS last summer, as Melton's local MP, alongside local campaigners, I was clear that such a pause must be just that, a pause to sort out staffing levels and safety, not a preliminary to a decision to permanently stop births at St Marys much earlier than the NHS had previously announced it intended to.

However, the local NHS appear to have failed to use the time to try to address the underlying challenges, instead pushing ahead with closing St Mary's far sooner than the original 2021 decision planned to do, and with the promised brand new maternity unit in Leicester linked to that 2021 decision now scrapped.

What we need to see is not local NHS services removed from the town by the local NHS, but more services being moved out of Leicester's hospitals to be delivered local in Melton - and I will continue fighting for that.

On another issue of real concern locally, readers of the Melton Times will be aware that recently the government published its proposals to reform SEND support for children and young people.

The proposals are set out in three lengthy and complex papers, which I am currently working through alongside studying the different responses many organisations involved in supporting SEND young people have already set out.

But alongside this, I am very keen to hear the reflections of local parents of children with SEND, as they know first-hand what works, and what changes to the system would genuinely make a positive difference.

It will be for the government to set out its final plans in due course, and it doesn't appear that significant increases in funding overall are likely to be forthcoming from the government, but I am keen that, as they consider the way forward on SEND, I am able to relay to government the reflections of local parents on the specific proposals in the consultation documents.

So please do feel free to email me at [email protected] when you have had a chance to read the government's proposals, alongside submitting your own responses directly to the consultation.

Finally, I recently also had the opportunity to meet with local farmers, members of the National Farmers’ Union, at the Stockyard to catch up over a coffee, to discuss the current challenges facing farming, and what can be done to further support our farmers and rural communities.

With increasing uncertainty in the global picture, alongside very challenging weather in recent months, and flooding, farmers are having to grapple with the increasing cost of fertiliser, energy and fuel, changes to the support available to them from government, changes to regulations and taxation by the government, and competition from abroad, to name just a few.

So I was keen to hear first-hand, as part of what I hope will be a series of regular informal meetings, what changes they wanted to see, and to reaffirm my commitment to working with, and supporting, our farming and rural communities.